Napoleonic - The Battle of Pisek 1809 Part 1

Firstly I'd like to apologise, this is not going to be like my usual Battle Reports, thing is the night before the game I went out on the razzle with a few of my norms, (norms being, my other mates who think grown men playing with little toy soldiers is a little strange). We went to the pub to see our footie team, the Mighty Leeds United, gets their butts kicked 3-1 in the first game of the season, so one thing led to another and before I new it the alarm was going off telling me to get out of bed, the alarm being my two youngest Holly and Nieve jumping on my bladder.
So, not a good start to the day!!! Then the hangover really kicked in, I knew I shouldn't have had that kebab!!
Anyway, I expect some have you have already been on Fran's blog and know the score. I read on Mike's blog that he'd be over in the UK on holiday and invited him to join us at Posties Mancave for a game, he didn't mind what game we played, so Napoleonics were chosen.

The Game
The Battle of Pisek 8th July 1809


On the 13th May 1809 the Austrian capital Vienna surrendered to Napoleon's forces. The Austrian army were still active even after suffering numerous defeats.

Thus the scene is set, two days after the Austrian withdrawal from Wagram (5th/6th July), with the Austrian forces escaping from Napoleon's armies, various Austrian units have been gathered to intercept a small French and Saxon corps from flanking what remains of the Austrian army.
The French are still looking for a fight and by god they will have one!!!
The Austrian army has started to arrive at Pisek, a small town about 120 miles north-west of Vienna, the French are also marching to Pisek looking for a fight.
Orders
French - Defeat one of the last remaining active Austrian forces and win glory for France.
Austrians - Stop the French and win a vitally needed victory against the hated French Empire.

The set up, with the French (Fran), on the left on the bottom of the picture and the Saxons (Mike),above.
The Austrians are on the right (Surj &Ray)

The Ausrian 2nd Division 6th Brigade - The 4th Vecsey Hussars and the
2nd Schwarzenburgerg Uhlans, both Elite units

The Austrian 2nd Division 4th Brigade. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of both
 the 14th and 24th German Line Regts

The Austrian 1st Division.  Commanded by Surj. On the hill is part of the 1st Briagde which
contained the 4th Jagers, (Elite), 5th Grenz (Conscript), the 1st Landwehr and
the 3rd Erzerhog Ferdinand Hussars. At the back of the hill is the 2nd Brigade consisting
of 2 Battalions each of the 20th and 42nd German Line.

Surj's view of the French advance, out of site at the bottom right of the photo  is the 3rd Brigade,
2 Battalions of the 34th and 1 of the 51st Hungarian Line

My move, at the start I received an order that re-enforcements will turn up at the bridge, so it is vital that it doesn't fall into enemy hands, so I moved my Uhlans and Hussars down off the hill to cover the bridge. This also meant a general advance of my whole Division must take place, which was something I really didn't want to do.

Surj's 1st Division advance to try and set up a defensive position before the French attack. The Hungarian move through the two hills, while the light troops from the 1st Brigade move forward onto the road.

Fran's Elite 1st Division, 1st Brigade advance. These were made up from 3 Battalions of the
15th Legere and one from 24th Legere

The start of Turn 2

Surj grabs the bull by the horns and charges down the hill with his 3rd Hussars straight into
a  column of French.

Both myself and Mike counter charge each others Cavalry. My 4th Hussars on the left crashed into
 and beat the Saxon Von Palenz Chevou-Leger, while my 2nd Uhlans routed the Prinz Albrecht Chevou-legers.

The same scene after the mellee.

The movement after the melle, saw the Saxon infantry close in on the Austrian right flank. Note the  Austrian cavalry retreating after the mellee on the hill. And after chasing down and destroying the other Saxon Chevou-leger Prince Albrecht, the poor 2nd Ulans come face to face with the just arrived Saxon heavy artillery.

The Austrian left, waiting....

What the hell!!!!! More Saxon reserves!!!! Each turn we had to throw a
dice , we guessed they would be reserves, but what and where we did not know. The French
got theirs first. Four, YES four battalions of Saxon Combined Grenadiers!!!!

The Saxons close in and charge 3 units from their 4th Briagde into the Austrian right.

Part 2 tommorrow